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Raining Cats and Dogs
"After the pyrocumulonimbus cloud stopped raining black rain and when it paves way for a nuclear winter, what's worse is that when these cute, fictional non-alien creatures from various fiction, including cats and dogs, fell down from the sky. Now this is song kind of an apocalypse that I was fearin' for." --Su Ji-Hoon, Feral Storm The English idiom "it is raining cats and dogs", used to describe particularly heavy rain, is of unknown etymology and is not necessarily related to the raining animals phenomenon.1 The phrase (with "polecats" instead of "cats") has been used at least since the 17th century.23 A number of possible etymologies have been put forward to explain the phrase; for example:4 * Drainage systems on buildings in 17th-century Europe were poor and may have disgorged their contents during heavy showers, including the corpses of any animals that had accumulated in them. This occurrence is documented in Jonathan Swift's 1710 poem "Description of a City Shower", in which he describes "Drowned puppies, stinking sprats, all drenched in mud,/Dead cats and turnip-tops come tumbling down the flood."5 * "Cats and dogs" may be a corruption of the Greek word Katadoupoi, referring to the waterfalls on the Nile,1 possibly through the old French word catadupe ("waterfall"). * The Greek phrase "kata doksa", which means "contrary to expectation", is often applied to heavy rain, but there is no evidence to support the theory that it was borrowed by English speakers.1 In addition to at least one folk etymology: * An "explanation" widely circulated by email claimed that in 16th-century Europe, when peasant homes were commonly thatched, animals could crawl into the thatch to find shelter from the elements and would fall out during heavy rain. However, there seems to be no evidence in support of either assertion.6 There may not be a logical explanation; the phrase may have been used just for its nonsensical humor value, like other equivalent English expressions ("it is raining pitchforks", "hammer handles", etc.). Other languages have equally bizarre expressions for heavy rain:78 * Afan Oromo: Waaqatu baqaqe ("the sky got torned") * Afrikaans: ou vrouens met knopkieries reën ("old women with clubs") * Albanian: po bie litarë-litarë ("rain is falling ropes-ropes"), ("is falling like ropes") * Albanian: po bën Zoti shurrën ("God is taking a piss") * Albanian: po qan Zoti ("God is crying") * Bengali: মুষলধারে বৃষ্টি পড়ছে musholdhare brishṭi poṛchhe ("rain is falling like pestles") * Bosnian: padaju ćuskije ("crowbars") * Bosnian: lije ko iz kabla ("it's pouring like from a bucket") * Cantonese: "落狗屎" ("It's raining dog's poo") * Chinese: "倾盆大雨" ("its pouring out of basins") * Catalan: Ploure a bots i barrals ("boats and barrels") * Croatian: padaju sjekire ("axes dropping") * Czech: padají trakaře ("wheelbarrows") * Czech: leje jako z konve ("like from a watering can") * Danish: det regner skomagerdrenge ("shoemakers' apprentices") * Dutch: het regent pijpenstelen ("pipe stems or stair rods") * Dutch (Flemish): het regent oude wijven ("old women") * Dutch (Flemish): het regent kattenjongen ("kittens") * Estonian: sajab nagu oavarrest ("It's raining like from a beanstalk") * Finnish: Sataa kuin Esterin perseestä ("It's raining like from Esteri's ass") * Finnish: Sataa kuin saavista kaatamalla ''("It's raining like poured from a bucket") * French: ''il pleut comme vache qui pisse ("it is raining like a peeing cow") * French: il pleut des seaux ("it's raining buckets") * French: il pleut des hallebardes ("it is raining halberds"), clous ("nails"), or cordes ("ropes") * German: Es regnet junge Hunde ("young dogs") or Es schüttet wie aus Eimern ("like poured from buckets") * Greek: βρέχει καρεκλοπόδαρα ("chair legs") * Hindi: मुसलधार बारिश (musaldhār bārish) ("rain like a pestle a mortar") * Hungarian: mintha dézsából öntenék ("like poured from a vat") * Icelandic: Það rignir eins og hellt sé úr fötu ("like poured from a bucket") * Kannada:ಮುಸಲಧಾರೆ, ಕುಂಭದ್ರೋಣ ಮಳೆ ("a stream of mallets") * Italian: piove a catinelle ("poured from a basin") * Latvian: līst kā no spaiņiem ("it's raining like from buckets") * Lithuanian: pila kaip iš kibiro ("it's pouring like from a bucket") * Malayalam: പേമാരി pemari ("mad rain") * Marathi: मुसळधार पाउस("rain like a pestle a mortar") * Nepali: मुसलधारे झरी ("rain like a pestle a mortar") * Norwegian: det regner trollkjerringer ("she-trolls") * Polish: leje jak z cebra ("like from a bucket") * Portuguese: chovem or está chovendo/a chover canivetes ("penknives") * Portuguese: chove a potes/baldes ("it is raining by the pot/bucket load") * Portuguese: chove a cântaros/canecos ("it is raining by the jug load") * Portuguese (Brazil): chovem cobras e lagartos ("snakes and lizards") * Portuguese (Brazil): está caindo um pau-d'água ("a stick of water is falling") * Portuguese (Brazil): está caindo um pé-d'água ("a foot of water is falling") * Romanian: plouă cu broaşte ("raining frogs") * Romanian: plouă cu găleata ("from a bucket") * Russian: льет как из ведра ("from a bucket") * Sinhalese: නාකපන්න වහිනවා ("it's raining cats and dogs") * Spanish: están lloviendo chuzos de punta ("shortpikes/icicles point first" - not only is it raining a lot, but it's so cold and windy that being hit by the drops hurts) * Spanish: está lloviendo a cántaros ("by the clay pot-full") * Spanish: llueven sapos y culebras ("toads and snakes") * Spanish (Argentina): caen soretes de punta ("pieces of dung head-first") * Spanish (Venezuela): está cayendo un palo de agua ("a stick of water is falling") * Spanish (Colombia): estan lloviendo maridos ("it's raining husbands") * Serbian: padaju sekire ("axes") * Swedish: Det regnar smådjävlar ("It is raining little devils") * Swedish: Det regnar småspik ("It is raining small nails") * Swedish: regnet står som spön i backen ("the rain stands like canes hitting the ground") * Tamil: பேய் மழை pei mazhi ("ghost rain") * Telugu: కుండపోత వర్షం ("pouring like an inverted pot") * Turkish: bardaktan boşanırcasına ("like poured from a cup") * Urdu: musladhār bārish ("rain like a pestle a mortar") * Welsh: mae hi'n bwrw hen wragedd a ffyn ("old ladies and sticks") In When the Cold Breeze Blows Away, raining cats and dogs won't mean just falling cats and dogs from the sky, but also raining cute fictional/non-alien creatures and animals that look cute, which happen after the black rain ended and the nuclear winter started, just after the Last Day was over. Those animals are sapient, and are immune to radiation, fallout, extreme temperatures, starvation and intense sunlight, unlike pre-Last Day animals. Category:Objects Category:Terms